Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1887-10-05

The airiWlth subtle incense Woos
. The rosy blush ofimorn; " ~
And softly, like the dove that COOS,
Come murmurs OF the dawn.
With buds and blossoms comes the Spring,
Fair harbingers are they >%
Whose gently opening petals bring
The breath of balmy May.
@0sephine Canning IN Good Housekeeping.
-. sAlREY's PRISONER.
How a self-Possessed Western Girl a
ured q Bold Desperate.
On a:still, hazy afternoon in the month
OF October, 49,, a heavily laden, canvas
covered wagon drawn by a pair of jaded
mules, plowed its way through a rid GO of
low sand hills, which divide the Loup from
the Platte valley, Neb. The spring seat in
front held as oddly an assorted couple. as
had ever crossed those lonely hills, which
at that time formed the southern boundary
OF the Pawnee Indian Reservation. III
The man was a huuchback, his body
thick-set. his legs short and slender. His
broad, though misshapen shoulders, were
surmounted by alarge head, covered with
an e~xtravagant growth of red, bristling
hair. He possessed a pair of twinkling
blue beads for eyes, a fat nose n a sup
positions mouth, concealed by a dense
growth of whiskers. This is a. fair por-
trait of Andrew Brennan known back in
Missouri from whence he came as And"
and also as a mar whose genial disposition
greatly belied his looks.
OfSairey, his daughter, who shared with
him the seat, it can be said that she was, a
white-faced, womanly-looking girl OF
twenty-five, with a mass of tavvney hair
and a pair OF intelligent, gray eyes, we'll
opened, and in which appeared q look of
protective tenderness whenever they
rested on And's grim and spider-like pro-
portions. To her, he now and for many
years had filed the Offices of both father
and mother.
"Hain't we e'enmost thar, paw 2" queried
Sairey, with an air of intense WEAKNESS.
"Pm clean beat out with ther alfred
jollin."
"Only one section furder, Sairey, an ther
trail goes kitterin' katterln' acrost that.
Dye see the VIM mill yander; right kerr
slap over Dolls lead :? Thet's Their place,
thet's Hank Wells post ohice."
And impaired this cheering intelligence
in a wheezy undertone au1 pointing in the
direction he had indicated with his black
snake whip. The "kitterin' katterin'"
road was soon passed over and the em-
.igrant wagon rumbled up to the door of a
low, black sod house, and the travellers were
greeted with a duet from a brace of NANCY
herd-dogs. This salute had the effect of
bringing the whole Wells connection, great
and small, On the scene with a suddenness
that suggested the idea that And and Sairey
had been stalker stock Off from sundry
peep-holes while approa ching the prem
Uses.
"Howdy, ~nelghbor," wheezed And, re-
moving a clay pipe from the dense chap
parel which concealed his mouth.
"Hank" Wells, P. NJ, had by this time
gained the side of the wagon and stood
with one foot on the ground, the other
braced against the hub of the front wheel.
'How dye do, stranger, an you, too,
Miss" replied the owner'of the post-ofice,
shaking hands with And while ducking his
head politely at Sairey; (which way might
ye be goin?'
"Well, yer see, neighbour said And, 'it
depends mostly on you uns ez ter whether
we moves along er gifts er grub stake right
hyar. Me an Sairey hev homesteaded the
northwest quarter of section twenty-five,
township fifteen, range eight, west, an we
kalkilated ter stop with you uns a spell
tell I could git the 'dobe patched up a bit,
tibet is, eff we could make a hitch"
The postmaster shifted the foot on the
hub to terra frma, and telegraphed the
question to Cinthy, his wife. She had re-
manned framed in the doorway Of the sod
Sdugout," which humble edifce served the
dual purpose Of milk house in summer and
storm house in winter. The signal was OBJ
served by And, and he hasted to reassure
the somewhat feshy power behind the
throne of their desirability as boarders by
saying:
eve hain't over particular, me an
6airey hain't; an eff so be ez yer air short
nv s~hake-downs, why, we can sleep in the
Vaughn hyar, and Pill pay yer either in
days works with Their mules, er green
backs, which sumever you unsud ruther."
And's pat %al,lusion to g~reenbacks settled
the question, and Cinthy came o to
Seirey's side of the wagon with a late
show Of alacrity.
$50 you've taken up the old Kellogg
claim, cha Light right out and come in,
miss. Now I'll lay you're right smart
shook up with yer trip"
Sairey availed herself Of this tardy invi-
tation, and followed her corpulent hostess
Into the house. The cottonwood plank
floor was bare and badly warped. A lounge
made of rough pine graced the side of the
room, and a kitchen table, milk safe, six
splint chairs and a wash bench completed
the portable property. In the way Of dec
orative art, the walls were guiltless Of Or
n~amentation, unless the one-color itho-
graph embellishing the door was a pathetic
attempt to the higher life.
I#
The winter passed away. The fame of
sa1rey's cooking spread from one end of
the mail-carrier's route to the other. and
seldom a day passed without bringing
some cattle man or traveller to sup or lodge
within And's halfway hotel
+ .
Again it was toward the close OF another
golden October day, the anniversary Of
And and Sairey's advent into the Loup val
10y, one year ago. Sairey, curledup in the
spring seat of the wagon, which she had
brought into the house, was putting the
last stitches into a patched and grimy
grain-saek. A shadow fell athWart the
small piece OF sunshine at her feet, and
looking up. she beheld, not her fathers
dear, u%nsightly form, but that Of a much
81 younger man lounging carelessly in the
doorway, hat in hand and pants tucked
into q pair of high riding boots. So sud
denly and stealthily had the stranger APP
peared that Sairey bestowed q longer,
1foadier glance 1non hig Handsome face